


the moon moves out in front

by deepnest



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Domestic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Light Angst, Which is also light
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:55:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26966299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deepnest/pseuds/deepnest
Summary: A moment rooted far away tangles in the present, withers, and fades into the fullness of the life they lead.
Relationships: Hornet/Lace (Hollow Knight)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 53





	the moon moves out in front

A hand brushed Hornet's shoulder. 

Her heart burst against her carapace, claws lashed around her assailant's wrist. She hissed, sharp and urgent, before she was even really awake, "What do you-"

And then she looked up into the face above hers, took in the expression, remarkably placid for someone in immediate danger of a broken limb. 

"Lace? Ah." Hornet scrubbed her eyes with her free hand. "Lace, what's the matter?"

"I woke up, and you weren't there," Lace replied plainly. She twitched her wrist, and Hornet let go. "You had trouble sleeping, I take it?"

Hornet unfurled the rest of the way. She winced as she sat up straight, and bent her head to one side, grabbing a horn and pulling until there was a crack that Lace could hear. Then she let her head fall back against the lounge. Their living room was all shadows and hollow blue, but nonetheless warm.

Hornet answered, "Yes, I woke up. And I could not get back to sleep. So I thought, at least, I ought to keep watch-" She scoffed, "Do not ask over what."

It was just what she'd always done, when she woke up that way. When sleep fled after a few hours, and she needed to know what had scared it off, to know why - why this stirring of her pulse under her chitin? How often had she heard, soon after, a stirring over moss or stone, some infected scrabbling nearby, or more rarely, a graverobber?

Often enough to heed the impulse carelessly. To let it drive her from a bed, which was hers, with soft sheets and pillows which were the same ones she slept in nightly. This wasn't one of her burrows. She was wearing pajamas. She didn't need pajamas, but she had them, anyway. That was how far from home she was. From Hallownest. 

Hornet murmured, "I do apologize for disturbing you."

"Hm. As if I was the one bothered." 

"Of course, there was nothing. Thankfully. Think of what my negligence might have cost us."

Lace waved the thought away. "It's been some time since my pin tasted blood. Perhaps it's been too long. Although, some exercise should do just as well?"

"Tomorrow." Hornet's fangs shifted up sheepishly. "I don't believe I can assist tonight - I was more tired than I knew."

"It's back to bed for you, then," Lace declared. She offered Hornet a hand. 

"I suppose so." 

Hornet took Lace's hand. She stood, and Lace stepped back to draw Hornet forward. This placed them standing together, apart by only inches in the weak, blue light. Lace's gaze swept over her, and seemed to catch on something. 

"I'm sorry for waking you like that. You didn't answer when I spoke to you. But I suppose I should have let you rest, if you're that tired."

"No. No, I have a bed now. I ought to use it."

Lace wasn't about to argue with that. "Indeed." 

She leaned forward, and kissed Hornet's forehead, just under and between her horns. A reflexive gesture of affection, nothing weighty or especially rich. Nonetheless, Hornet froze.

"Hornet?"

Hornet's hand rose to Lace's cheek. "Kiss me again." 

And then Hornet recoiled, as if she hadn't meant to speak, and her own words were a blow to her. "If you wish, that is, I don't mean to-"

Lace kissed Hornet again. She pressed her mouth to Hornet's this time, and when she felt Hornet's arms close around her back, Lace did the same for her, and then, at last, the tension drained from Hornet's body. 

Lace didn't pull away. She let Hornet choose when to end it, when Lace could feel press of Hornet's shell against hers, when Hornet was breathless in spite of having quite enough air in her thin sheets of lung. Even when she did pull away, she buried her face where Lace's shoulder met her neck and kissed the dip in her soft flesh. Hornet was reward with one of the hands around her back shifting, a fingertip meandering up and lingering over the joints in her plates. 

"You're stalling now," Lace teased. "Bed time, remember?"

"Only," Hornet began, uncertainty creeping into her voice. She had time to think about it now, still as she was, even if that stillness was made of Lace's arms around her. She knew what she needed, she knew how to ask for it, she knew that Lace would give it to her. She would allow Lace to touch her, and Hornet was allowed to want that touch, to seek it out and anchor herself in it. She was allowed to make her home here and now, and it would not crumble around her. 

She extracted herself enough to cup Lace's face in her hand again. "Only if you kiss me. More. Again. Once we're there." 

Lace giggled. "Oh, you needn't twist my arm so. In fact." She angled Hornet's face again. "I suppose a little more stalling wouldn't hurt." 


End file.
